Siren: Blood Curse

Heed the Sound

Siren: Blood Curse will genuinely scare the pants off you... just be ready for the controls to do the same.
Author: Sam Bishop
Published: August 10, 2008
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The audio, luckily fixes much of that almost instantly. There's a fairly wide cast of characters, some of whom speak in the native dialect and nearly all of them manage to flawlessly deliver lines that sucked me into the story. For all the jerky, robotic bits that the motion capture provided, there were just as many that pulled me back in with the audio. The voice cast really does deserve some praise here, so well done, guys and gals.


The rest of the audio is even better. Music is rare, but usually fleeting in the kind of way that almost makes you wish it were still there. The heavy Japanese themes to the music really fall away once the more tense, dramatic bits roll in, and they happen often. The whole of the aural experience plays out brilliantly in 5.1, giving you random Japanese shouts from the infected to just simple little scuffs and scrapes to the sound of everyday objects connecting with an actual person. The sound effects and generally unsettling aural soundscape in Siren are a massive contributor to why you're getting freaked out.

There's also the issue of some huge difficulty spikes toward the end. I honestly don't know how I finished the game, because some missions just seemed like luck of the draw (including one of my biggest pet peeves an escort/protection mission). That the control issues are only exacerbated during these can make for some absolute controller-throwingly difficult segments that threaten to derail things.

Honestly, Siren's experience comes down to whether or not it's actually worth playing. Is it? Hell yes, of course. But the episodic approach (and especially those files sizes, something the PSN is not very good at delivering) is trying at best. The question, then, becomes, "is the game worth it per-chapter?" Noope, not really. It is, however, quite worth the total experience.

That things actually get better the longer you indulge in the chapters is something that Lost or Heroes or Battlestar Galactica fans will understand. No matter how addicted to the episodic ideal they may be (and make no mistake, it won't be a season's-worth of effort to finish Siren), though, it's still a stretch to ask everyone to ride out the game to the (lovably crazy) end.
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The Verdict
8.0

Siren has moments of frustration and uneven difficulty, and the story is pretty insane in more ways than one. Even still, it's a good, spooky horror adventure, and worth a look if you've got 10 hours and 40 bones to blow.

8.0Graphics:

Impressively moody and given to pulling back on detail instead of heaping it on. Nuanced use of HDR (or at least dynamic) lighting and an incredibly grimy, dirty feel to everything does a good job of creeping you out.

8.5Sound:

Nearly all of the voice acting is very, very good, and the 5.1 audio and effects are damned fine as well.

5.0Control:

You will get pissed, and it'll almost certainly happen because of the game's controls, which are sloppy at best and infuriating during the most tense of situations.

7.5Gameplay:

Though not every chapter is even, the combination of sight-jacking nearby enemies to see what they see and puzzle through some parts do a great job of keeping tension high while letting combat come to the fore as needed.